Glenn Rayp

Measuring and explaining government efficiency in developing countries

Abstract Governments in developing countries play an important role in the growth process, most notably through their budgetary policies. This potentially beneficial role is, however, hindered by government expenditure inefficiency. This is illustrated in a basic model of public spending and economic growth. Government efficiency is estimated for 52 developing countries using data envelopment analysis and subsequently employed in a general to specific approach in order to identify its determinants. We find government expenditure efficiency is primarily determined by structural country variables and governance indicators. Economic policy determinants apparently count less. The Asian countries and low income European countries in the sample have a significantly higher and lower efficiency, respectively.

Social Protection Competition in the EMU

Every step towards the completion of European integration appears to be greeted with renewed, not to say increasing, concern over its possible unwanted negative social side-effects, particularly as regards protection against social risks (unemployment, sickness and invalidity, age, ...) and poverty. Not only the governments of the different Member States but also the two EU Commissions headed in the past by Delors were deeply worried about the ability of the Member States, by applying incomes policies and social security measures, to pursue beggar-my-neighbour policies in an integrated market and all the more so in a monetary union. The EMU would provide an even greater temptation for them to do so because other economic policy instruments such as trade policy or monetary policy are kept under tight control, thereby increasing the relevance of incomes policy as an instrument at their disposal. Moreover the very creation of a single market would allow potentially more substantial gains from a competitive advantage as competition and the price elasticity of the demand of “tradables” increases. This applies in particular in a monetary union in which international transparency increases with the removal of transaction costs.

A decision support model for the planning and assessment of export promotion activities by government export promotion institutions — the Belgian case

Abstract This model enables the planning and assessment of export promotion activities. The model consists of four consecutive filters that are constructed using and applying a set of selection and decision rules. Information related to country and product category is brought together, and realistic export opportunities for Belgian are finally filtered out.

Inequality and Growth: From Micro Theory to Macro Empirics

To establish the nature of the link between income distribution and economic growth by means of a standard growth regression, one needs to collapse an entire income distribution into a scalar measure of inequality. Due to data shortages macro-economic research has typically been forced to use the gini coefficient for this purpose. Using a simulation set up we check how well different measures of inequality or poverty succeed in detecting the correct relationship. We find that the gini coefficient might not be the worst of choices, but the comparison of the explanatory power of different inequality measures can help to identify the theoretical mechanism through which inequality affects growth.

Wage and Employment Effects in the EU of International Trade with the Emerging Economies

The paper investigates whether significant HOS effects are present in the EU from trade liberalization with the emerging economies. Regarding wage inequality, there is only evidence of a trade-induced technological change, but biased towards thelower-skilled-labor-intensive sectors. Relative wages in the EU member states are not affected differently. Trade liberalization under ‘European assumptions’, however, could affect primarily relative factor demand. A flexible cost function approach shows that import competition from the emerging economies influenced relative labor demand in favor of the higher skilled, implying an intrasectoral rather than an intersectoral specialization in skill-intensive activities. JEL no. F11, F14

The productivity and export spillovers of the internationalisation behaviour of Belgian firms

This paper analyses to what extent the decision to start exporting may be subject to spillovers of the internationalisation behaviour of other (foreign and domestic) firms. We distinguish between two possible channels: effects on productivity and effects on the perceived level of sunk costs of exporting. For both channels, we consider geographical and activity or industry-based linkages between firms. For a sample Belgian firms we find evidence of significant spillovers on productivity as well as productivity-independent spillovers on the decision to start exporting. Spillovers seem more substantial in the geographical dimension than in terms of competitor, client or supplier links, except for the impact of multinationals on the productivity of domestic firms.

Different ways of looking at old issues: a time-series approach to inequality and growth

In this article we propose an econometric approach that steers clear of parameter heterogeneity, omitted variable bias and endogeneity problems, from which suffers the econometric analysis of economic growth. We propose to investigate the relation between income inequality and economic growth in a cointegrated VAR setting and present an application to Belgium, US and Finland.

Determinants of Intraregional Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa 1980-2000

Abstract Despite great accomplishments in the migration literature, the determinants of South-South migration remain poorly understood. In an attempt to fill this gap, this paper formulates and tests an empirical model for intraregional migration in sub-Saharan Africa within an extended human capital framework, taking into account spatial interaction. Using bilateral panel data between 1980 and 2000, we find that intraregional migration on the subcontinent is predominantly driven by economic opportunities and sociopolitics in the host country, facilitated by geographical proximity. The role played by network effects and environmental conditions is also apparent. Finally, origin and destination spatial dependence should definitely not be ignored.

School Staff Autonomy and Educational Performance: Within‐School‐Type Evidence

In this paper, we show the effect of school staff autonomy on educational performance. The value-added compared to the existing body of literature is that we employ variation in autonomy within the same country and within the same school type in order to reduce the omitted variable problem. To fully capture the informational advantage of local actors, we define autonomy as the operational empowerment of the schools direction and teachers. The Flemish secondary school system in Belgium is analysed because it displays unique within-school-type variation in school staff autonomy. This variation originates from autonomously operating school governing bodies that can group multiple schools and are free to delegate responsibilities to the school staff. This variation is likely exogenous because it is mainly driven by approximately random variation in characteristics and composition of the school boards. Combining detailed school-level and pupil-level data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 study with a semi-parametric hierarchical model, we find a strong positive effect of school staff autonomy on educational performance. The result is shown to be robust to problems of reverse causality and simultaneity.

The labour market consequences of globalisation and regionalisation

Purpose - This paper aims to introduce the subject of the impact of globalization and regionalization on the labour markets. The papers of the special issue are placed within this subject. Design/methodology/approach - Although the subject is not treated exhaustively, the papers presented are new contributions dealing with labour market institutions, efficiency wages, employment effects of outward foreign direct investment, immigration patterns, and regional social and labour policies. These diverse issues are dealt with in their relation with increasing globalization in developed economies. Findings - The major conclusions of the papers in the special issue are put into the perspective of the state of the art of the research on the social impact of globalization, particularly the labour market consequences. Originality/value - A more comprehensive analysis of globalisation, which takes into account the complementarity of the different channels through which its effects on labour markets are transmitted, becomes more and more necessary. The papers of the special issue attempt to look into a number of these channels and to some extent into their complementarity.